INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Indianapolis Colts’ unstoppable force on offense overpowered the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

As for Peyton Manning? He was mostly along for the ride.

Rookie running back Joseph Addai rushed for 171 yards and tied a franchise record with four touchdowns, and the Colts’ defense never let Philadelphia get close as Indianapolis routed the Eagles 45-21.

The Colts (10-1) can clinch their fourth straight AFC South title with a win at Tennessee next week.

Philadelphia (5-6) played its first game without Donovan McNabb, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn knee ligament. But the Eagles couldn’t blame this one on McNabb’s absence.

Jeff Garcia, McNabb’s replacement, was 19-of-23 for 140 yards and two TDs. Brian Westbrook ran 20 times for 124 yards and one touchdown, becoming the first Eagles player since Wilbert Montgomery in 1981 to produce three straight 100-yard games.

But the Eagles made mistakes all night – and the Colts took advantage.

Addai set an NFL rookie record for scoring with a late 4-yard run. The previous high for points scored by a rookie in one game was 18, a mark reached in 1956, 1994 and 1996.

Manning wasted little time in putting the game away early in the second half. He threw a 15-yard TD pass to Reggie Wayne to make it 31-7.

Manning’s first complete pass, a 17-yarder to Wayne on the opening series, made him the fastest player in league history to reach 3,000. The two-time MVP set the mark in 139 games, breaking a record previously shared by Dan Marino and Drew Bledsoe of 146, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

He finished 14-of-20 for 183 yards, giving him 3,013 career completions.

But it was Addai who stole the show. His slashing runs produced huge chunks of yardage and when he wasn’t cutting to open spots, he was overpowering defenders. Addai, who entered this week as the NFL’s leading rookie runner, carried 24 times and caught two passes for 37 yards.

In contrast, the Eagles did little right.

From a poor early decision to challenge Wayne’s one-handed, 38-yard catch to Hank Baskett’s botched pass that was picked off by Nick Harper to David Akers’ missed 36-yard field goal, the game was filled with errors.

– none of which were attributed to the absence of McNabb.

The first time Philadelphia did score, on L.J. Smith’s 1-yard TD catch with 1:19 left in the half, it gave Manning too much time. He closed out the half by setting up Adam Vinatieri’s 44-yard field goal.

It didn’t take the Colts long to rebound from their first loss of the season.

Manning led Indy on a 79-yard opening drive, capped by Addai’s 15-yard run to make it 7-0.

Addai followed that with a 10-yard run on the first play of the second quarter to give Indy a 14-0 lead, then extended the margin to 21-0 when he made two terrific cuts on another 15-yard TD run.

The second half wasn’t much better for Philly. Indianapolis forced a quick punt and Manning led the Colts on an 89-yard drive, capped by a 15-yard TD pass to Wayne for a 31-7 lead.

Philadelphia got closer when Garcia threw a 3-yard TD pass to Reggie Brown late in the third quarter, and when Westbrook scored on a 6-yard run with 10:13 left, the Eagles were within 31-21.

But they never seriously threatend the Colts, who used a time-consuming drive to seal the victory.

B>Notes: Indianapolis lost tight end Dallas Clark with a sprainedP> right knee late in the first half, but the team gave no additional details on his injury. … Garcia sat out the final series with a right forearm strain. Garcia said he could have played, but decided against risking further any injury.

AP

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